Me, Myself and I

A Case File On The Crimes Against Reflexive Pronouns

“Myself and Joe, would like to ask yourselves your opinions…”

A conversational cornerstone of middle-managers, estate agents and police officers, to name but a few frequently guilty parties, the misuse and abuse of reflexive pronouns is fast reaching crisis point. Used presumably with the mistaken belief that longer words make you sound more intelligent, offenders seem to have missed the point that it doesn’t make you sound as intelligent as actually using the correct words.

What Is A Reflexive Pronoun?

Myself, yourself, himself, herself, oneself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. That’s the full list. They’re words that end in either –self or –selves and are used when the subject and object of a verb are the same. In more simple terms, in the second person perspective it is something that you do to yourself.

Correct Examples Of Reflexive Pronoun Use

I kicked myself. Did you hurt yourself? Jo cooked for herself last night. It turned itself off. We should believe in ourselves.

Common Crimes

“Myself and my colleagues” is a classic one heard on radio call-in shows. You’d be forgiven for shouting “My colleagues and I!” at the radio, because that’s the correct phrase. “I’ll send the paperwork over for yourselves to take a look at” is another; why stretch the word “you” out to “yourselves”? There’s no good reason. All too often, the longer reflexive pronoun is used instead of the (correct) pronoun. If you’re not sure, try taking out the pronoun element of the sentence and seeing if it makes any sense.
“Joe and myself will be catching the 9am train” would become “Myself will be catching the 9am train”, which immediately sounds as ridiculous as it is.

Is It Really That Big A Deal?

Not really. At least, not if you have zero concerns about sounding in any way competent or professional. It is a trap easily fallen into in an attempt to sound more competent, intelligent and professional though, so if that’s at the forefront of your mind and you want to impress then it’s better to get it right.